From a supported country to a Global Leader in Mine Action: Cambodia’s Goal of a World Free of Landmines


Over the 20 years of the Vietnam War and the subsequent conflict, approximately 2.75 million tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia, and an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines were buried.

Following the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) was established by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) to address the landmine issue. In 1993, CMAC became a Cambodian government organization, but despite the signing of a peace agreement, conflict continued, slowing down landmine clearance operations.

Read more…
Source: Japan International Cooperation Agency


Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter


Related:

  • CMAC meets Thai counterparts over joint demining work

    December 14, 2018

    The Cambodian Mine Action Centre and Thai Mine Action Centre met on Wednesday in Thailand’s Sakeo province to select areas to be jointly demined along the border. Heng Ratana, CMAC director-general, said in a statement on Wednesday that the meeting focused on strengthening demining cooperation between the two institutions, especially along the Cambodian-Thai border for the ...

  • CMAC cleared over 30,000 land mines in first 10 months

    December 4, 2018

    The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) cleared more than 30,000 land mines from 75sq km in the first 10 months of this year, the organisation’s director-general said on Monday. Heng Ratana, speaking at a CMAC meeting, said the organisation aims to clear a further 116sq km of mines in the next two months. Progress usually slows ...

  • Clearing Cambodia’s leftover landmines: A dangerous job

    August 30, 2018

    Decades after war and conflict ravaged Cambodia, it is still reeling from millions of landmines. They continue to kill civilians and even de-miners. Nic Dunlop reports from one of the world’s largest minefields. The K-5 barrier minefield in Cambodia is one of the largest minefields in the world. Estimated to contain up to 2 million mines, it ...

  • Cambodia, China sign documents on mine clearance, transport master plan preparation, palace renovation

    June 19, 2018

    Cambodia and China on Tuesday signed documents on mine clearance, preparation of transport master plan and renovation of the Angkor Thom Royal Palace. The documents were inked here between Cambodian and Chinese officials under the presence of Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth and Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan. In the mine clearance ...

  • 2 killed during land mine clearance training in Cambodia

    March 16, 2018

    A land mine exploded accidently during clearance training at a military base in western Cambodia, killing two people, including an Australian, and injuring three others, police said. National police said the explosion occurred Thursday in Kampong Speu province when a soldier who was being trained mishandled a decades-old land mine that had been removed from the ground. ...

  • China donates mine clearance equipment to Cambodia

    November 20, 2017

    China donated mine-clearance equipment, wheelchairs, motorcycles and office equipment to the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) on Monday. Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo handed over the donation to CMAA’s First Vice President Serei Kosal during a ceremony in Phnom Penh. The donation included 18 mine detectors, 18 demining personal protective equipment (PPE) outfits, 18 sets of blasting tools, ...

  • U.S. cuts $2-mln funding to Cambodia’s mine removal effort amid crackdown

    November 7, 2017

    The United States will cut $2 million in funding next year to Cambodia’s leading landmine clearance body, the group said on Tuesday, in what it called a bid to silence government criticism about Vietnam War-era bombs dropped by the U.S. The cut comes amid a crackdown on critics of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who could ...

  • Cambodian Virtual Reality Helps Train Bomb-disposal Techs

    October 4, 2017

    A lab in Cambodia is using cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, machine learning, swarm robotics and 3-D printing to try and revolutionize bomb disposal. The suite of products developed by Golden West Humanitarian Foundation’s Phnom Penh lab, in collaboration with universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Villanova, are designed to mesh ...

  • Demining Operator Opens Peace Museum

    July 6, 2017

    The government’s main demining operator will open a 2-hectare landmine museum at an undisclosed cost in Siem Reap City today, at a time when the government is struggling to attract donors for mine clearance work that is well behind schedule. The Peace Museum of Mine Action, housed at the regional headquarters of the Cambodian Mine Action ...

  • The lifesaving hero rats with a nose for explosives

    June 24, 2017

    Merry usually wakes before the sun rises and is driven to work along with 11 of her colleagues in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. They work for a few hours, napping between shifts. Her job, detecting landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO), requires a laser-like focus. It also helps that at about a kilo in weight, ...

  • War Ends but Suffering Remains

    August 1, 2016

    Forty-six-year-old Phon Chet, who lost his left leg to cluster bombs 14 years ago, sits with other impaired people at a rehabilitation center in Kampong Cham province during a media tour on Thursday. Due to unexploded ordnance left over from the civil war in the 1970s, his wife and six children lost the chance to go ...